Rain gutters for buildings



March 16, 1965 s. SUNSHINE RAIN cumzas FOR BUILDINGS Filed July 25, 1961 IN V EN TOR,

United States Patent Office 3,173,268 Patented Mar. 16, 1965 3,173,268 RAIN GUTTERS FOR BUILDINGS Benjamin Sunshine, 50 Maxwell Ave., Fords, NJ. Filed July 25, 1961, Ser. No. 126,640 1 Claim. (Cl. 6114) This invention relates generally to rain gutters used on buildings, and more particularly relates to novel constructions and arrangements thereof that simplify their installation.

The invention construction is particularly suitable for wooden rain gutters, yet is applicable to the sheet metal type as well. The gutter sections are directly joined, endto-end or at cor-ners by the novel, economical and practical fasteners hereof. A predetermined spacing is provided through the joint hardware of the invention, to fill-in with suitable cement for securing the joint and render it leakproof.

These and other advantages, objects and features of this invention will become more apparent from the following description of an exemplary embodiment thereof, illustrated in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustration of a 90 corner section of a rain gutter utilizing the invention fasteners, formed for a building outside corner.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the rain gutter corner of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the inner portion of an exemplary 90 corner section of a rain gutter, formed for use at a building inside corner.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view, enlarged of the exemplary vertical fastener set, shown in sections, for the rain gutters.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the fastener sections of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view, enlarged, of the fastener, in sections, used at the bottom of the rain gutter corner of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view, taken along the line 7-7 of the gutter corner as shown in FIG. 3.

The rain gutter section of FIGS. 1 and 2, is in a 90 corner form, composed of two wooden gutters 16, 17 joined at their 45 mitred ends by the exemplary fastening structure. The fastener system comprises a vertical set 20, 21, 22, shown in separated view in FIGS. 4 and 5; and the bottom set 30, 31, 32, shown in FIGS. 2, 6 and 7. A metal front plate 18 is secured by screws 19, as a decorative member. It is a 90 form, to fit thereon.

The vertical fastener set is composed of similar end members 20 and 22, and a central locking channel 21. End member 20 contains a vertical ribbed flange 23 for mating or latching with flange 24 of channel 21; and end member 22, a flange 23, for mating with flange 25 of the channel. Flaps 26, 26 extend perpendicularly from member 20, 21 respectively to aid in securing them to the gutters. Suitable apertures 27 and toothed upsets 28 enable such securement by simple wood screws.

The vertical end members 20, 22 are secured along the inside vertical faces of the respective 45 mitered adjacent gutter ends of the corner 15. Their flanges 23, 23' overlap the edges for latching engagement with the channel 21, indicated in FIG. 1. are arranged to be inwardly of the joint, with the locking channel 21 positioned interiorly between the spaced gutter ends. By providing a predetermined end-to-end spacing of the gutters 16, 17 through such interior latching of the vertical set 20, 21, 22, and of the bottom set 30, 31, 32 to be described, an open region 40 of uniform dimensions results in corner 15. An exemplary width or spacing for the potted region 40 is one-half inch.

The flanges 23, 23'

The region 40 thus formed in the joint between the gutters 16, 17 is filled with a suitable stay-soft roofing cement as indicated, see FIG. 1. This keeps the joint (15) both flexible and waterproof. It is noted that the vertical and bottom fasteners sets, together with the front plate 18 form a mold contour for the joint at region 40. Simple filling-in of the region with bituminous or other roofing cement completes the corner 15 as an integrated joint. It is unnecessary to exercise precision in mitering the gutter ends, as the corner 15 remains moderately flexible, and firmly supported by the two fastener sets.

The bottom fastener set is composed of two similar end members 30 and 32, each with a ribbed longitudinal flange 33, 33'. The central channel 31 has corresponding flanges 34 and 35 for latching engagement with the flanges 33, 33' respectively. The edges of members 30 and 32 adjacent flanges 33, 33 form a 45 angle therewith to conform with the mitered gutters and construct the corner (15), as seen best in FIG. 2. Apertures 36, 36 and toothed upsets 37, 37' are for securing members 30, 32 to their respective gutters. Slotted openings 38, 38' are for ease of securement of the bottom flaps 39, 39 of front plate 18 to the gutter undersides, (see FIG. 2).

FIG. 3 is a partial view of a modified 90 gutter corner 55, for use at an inside building corner. The vertical fastener set 50, 51, 52 is identical to set 20, 21, 22 of FIGS. 1 and 4. In corner 55 however, the relative position of the end members 50, 52 is reversed on corresponding gutters 56, 57. In this manner their flanges 53, 53' properly establish the interior latching with channel 51 to form the potted joint region 58. Their bottom flanges (not shown), corresponding to 26, 26' of members 20, 22, also properly mate in the reversed position. The bottom fastener set 60, 61, 62 is identical with the set 30, 31, 32 of corner 15, and similarly used, in reversed mode, see FIG. 7.

Depending from the top edges of the vertical fastener end members 20, 22 and 50, 52 are integral hook-on flaps 29, 29' and 59, 59 respectively. These flaps are arranged to extend about the order of Ms inch from the body of its associated member, and parallel thereto. The hook-on flaps 29, 29 and 59, 59' are for engaging with the hanging devices for mounting the assembled gutters, to be described hereinafter.

The splicing together of lengths of rain gutters, in and end-to-end or linear butt joint to form a long gutter is readily realized by using the fastener invention hereof. The vertical fastener set used is the same as for the corners (15, 55). The bottom fastener set is similar to that of FIG. 6 (30, 31, 32) except that the longitudinal edges are parallel to the gutter sides, namely perpendicular to their flanges. A flush third plate completes the joint region, that is then suitably potted. Shorter and therefor cheaper gutter lengths may in this manner be used to construct any longer gutter assembly required, at the building site.

Although this invention has been set forth in conjunction with an exemplary embodiment, it is to be understood that it may assume other forms, and be modified, without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention, as set forth in the following claim.

I claim:

A rain gutter comprising two adjacent linear gutter sections of wood material, a fastener joining the adjacent ends of said sections with a predetermined spaced region therebetween, said fastener including a pair of flat end members each secured to one of said gutter sections adjacent its said end, said end members each having a reentrant flange extending beyond its associated section end and into said region, a channel member with recipr 3 4- rocal flanges engaging said end member flanges to main- 1,113,251 10/ 14 Schlafly 6l15 tain said two gutter sections at the predetermined spac- 1,313,154 8/19 Anderson 6114 ing, said channel and the cojoined fastener flanges being 1,479,682 1/ 24 Smith 6115 arranged interiorly within said spaced region between the 2,448,750 9/48 Van Wert 24848.2 section ends, and cementitious material filling said region 5 2,639,680 5/53 Tennison 61-15 and encasing said engaged channel and flangesforming 2,682,840 7/54 Suprevant 61-44 a firm weatherproof internal joint for the rain gutter. 2 773 194 57 Van Leeuwen 1 14 References Cited by the Examiner 3,142,069 7/64 001111311 et a1 4172 UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 FOREIGN PATENTS 1 934 10 5 Steal-n3 1 15 594,864 11/47 Great Britain.

173,037 2/76 Miller 61- 15 444,118 5/ 11 France- 334,831 1/86 Wilcox 248-482 497,466 5/93 Davidson 6l 15 HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Pzmmry Eianzmel.

1,096,212 5/14 Abbott 6115 15 JACOB L. NACKENOFF, Examiner. 

